Big House Update!

Well, the landscaping is pretty much done along with the deck being done. As I was taking photos, they were starting to lay straw on the grass seed. I am very happy with Spieles Nursery. The quality is great, they are hard workers and you CAN'T beat the price. I would recommend them 100% and will certainly be using them again in the future.

BEFORE PHOTOS: Front taken on April 06. Back taken on December 06.





AFTER PHOTOS: Taken today.






I'll take better photos soon when the sun is at a better angle and everything is cleaned up. These were done at 3pm. Also, look how fat I was in the before picture!

Outdoor Deck Speakers - Installed and Working

Oh, man. These things are SWEET. I finally got them mounted and wired to the Denon receiver. After 15 minutes of hanging, 10 minutes of wiring and 90 minutes of reading the manual, I finally got the speakers working. I can't get the TV sound to go, but I can get the tuner and an iPod going through.

Lovin' it!

Another Deck Update

Laura's dad got the stair posts installed and all the railing is up. Also, we had a landscaper come out today to put together a quote to redo all the landscaping around the entire house and add some stuff too.

Deck Update

After a long day of work by Laura's brother and dad and a few hours of my help once I got home from my Indiana trip, we finished the decking materials that make up the floor. We still need to install stairs and railing.

It's coming together!

Decking Materials - In! (Mostly)

Menards finally got in our decking materials after ordering them about one month ago. Unfortunately, ten of the 20' pieces were damaged, so they expect those in this week and they'll deliver them to our house. It shouldn't pose a problem.

My dad and I took his 12' trailer and truck out there. When we started, I thought it was a 16' trailer and he thought it was 14'. Well, when picking up 20' long boards, I must say that 16' or longer would make it pretty easy. As it was, we ended up putting the 20' boards (all 31 of them) in the bed and then hanging them out and on the trailer. We surrounded them with other items and they ended up just sliding back and forth in the bed. It worked like a charm!

Deck Update

Well, after having the room done for a few months now and enjoying it, we've finally got a start on the back deck. Laura's dad and brother got the footers poured and stone laid this past Saturday while we were at Justin's wedding.

Today, we mounted up all the support beams and nailed them to the house and the main support beam that holds them all up.

I guess we should go order our decking materials, eh? We are going with composite since I'm lazy. (Yeah, yeah. You already figured that.)

AV Cabinet Finally Done

Well, the Sanus cabinet finally came in this week and I got around to putting it together tonight. Here it is in place under the Vizio 50". As you can see, I need to tidy up some wall plates and add the backing to the cabinet. I'll get to this soon, but we have company coming tomorrow and I wanted to have the "coffee table AV stand" gone.

For the record, I bought the Sanus cabinet from B&H Photo & Video. It took over 4 weeks to come in, but that was due to Sanus; not B&H. I also ordered the Sanus Tilt Mount for the plasma from B&H and it got here in a jiffy.

Home Theater Setup

After getting the Vizio plasma hung this evening with Laura's help and not having to get up for work tomorrow, I thought I might as well pull all the speakers out and hook them up. An hour or so later, I officially have surround sound. I mounted the surrounds today while she was at work.

While I got the system functioning, that's probably the best word to describe it. It still needs a LOT of tweaking. That Denon receiver is a monster with a ton of features and a thick user's manual to go along with it. All of the Axiom speakers seem to be making sound. I guess that's a start.

Our furniture should be in this month along with my Sanus AV cabinet. It will look very sweet. (At least it'll look a lot better than a coffee table. Obviously what you see in the photo is temporary.)

Saturday Room Update

The carpet was finally installed yesterday and now we're only needing to install the trim. I think Laura decided on white, so we'll have that up in a few days. All the furniture will be in within the next couple weeks, so we'll start moving the desk and such in there too.

Anyway...here is the carpet. It's soft.

Long Saturday

Today was a pretty full day. We got a lot done. Kaden spent the night at my parents' house, so after the YMCA (Brandon) at 7a and then some breakfast, we headed off to Ashley Furniture to outfit the new room. Three hours later, we had it all picked out and no money left. We picked up a leather couch, Durapella chaise, chair, ottoman and recliner. We also picked out a sofa table, end table, coffee table and a small Durapella storage ottoman. Here are pictures of the sofa and chaise I took a few weeks ago:






We picked up Kaden and headed home where Laura's dad was working on heating and AC ductwork to the new room. I changed and headed down for an hour to help until he left. I finished taking more stuff down and then took a shower.

After a nap for all of us, we headed out to eat dinner at Captain D's and then Laura dropped Kaden and I off at the mall while she went off to do some clothes shopping. About an hour and a half later, she picked us up with a huge bag of clothes from Kohl's. Kaden and I had fun walking the mall with the stroller and no where to go.


What a day.

Monday Room Update

It's been awhile since I've done one, but we finally got some more stuff done in the room. As you can see, outlets, switches, ceiling fan and the rest of the paint is up. Also, the French door to the room is put in and Laura spent 2.5 hours staining it on Saturday night. Ugh.

All we need now is trim (bought), carpet (bought and waiting) and the floor vents installed (this week). I think it's time to start picking out furniture!

You can see all the pictures of the room addition by clicking here.

Friday Room Update

Well, I haven't done much on the room this week due to being gone for most of it. However, Laura got the first layer of paint applied while I was gone and we are planning the second (and last) coat tonight or tomorrow which will give it some kind of textured pattern. I don't know - I just work here.

Here is a pano of the room, my after blowing insulation last weekend and what the overhang looks like. You can see the can lights and ceiling fan mounts. Should be sweet!

Sunday Room Addition Update

Well, things are getting closer and closer. The drywallers finished the walls and ceiling on Thursday. It was all mudded and sanded and only required a wipe-down. Saturday morning, my dad, mom and I blew insulation into the attic above the room. Laura wiped down the walls and prepped it for primer and Kaden ran circles in the room. He approves.


Sunday will a long day of priming the walls. It was longer for Laura since she trimmed it all and then did another coat. Ugh. Way to go, Laura! Also, we noticed that the gutters are done, so apparently in the last week or so, those guys came and did their thing. I hadn't noticed.

Anyway, now on to flooring, wall paint and, uhh... trim? We're just about there. I hope to be ready to watch the Super Bowl in a ready-to-roll room. Time will tell.

Update:

Here's my dad during the festivities...

Ready For Drywall

Tonight we finished all the wiring for drywall at 8:30a on Monday. Laura's dad did all the inside work over this past week (electrical, insulation, etc) and I ran speaker wire on Friday and had to fix it over the weekend.

Finally it's ready. Check out all the room addition photos by clicking here.

Monday Room Update

As of this afternoon, two of the three new walls have siding. The third side should be getting some more pasted on it Tuesday if all goes to plan. Check out the progress in the gallery.

Inside, we are doing more and more wiring and have the drywaller lined up to do that once we finish wiring and putting the insulation in. Woohoo!

Check out the full album by clicking here.